“Then a fling is what we’ll have,” she said, forcing a smile.
“Julie.”
She ignored him, grabbing his hand and yanking him toward the entrance. Julie went through the motions of flirting with the bouncer. She felt Mitchell’s eyes on her face, but she refused to meet his eyes.
Brent waved them in with his usual grumpy scowl, and Julie pulled Mitchell into the club, where the familiar throbbing darkness washed over her. For a second she faltered. In a space that was so densely packed with people, how was it that she could feel so utterly alone?
* * *
Mitchell might be a nightclub novice, but he’d apparently done his research.
Within seconds of entering the lair, he’d secured them a corner table and bottle service. The price was astronomical, but the alternative was fighting through a crowd six people deep just to get to the bar for a watered-down vodka and soda.
After their drinks had been poured, Julie kept her eyes fixed on the spot just to the right of his eyes, hoping he wouldn’t notice that she wouldn’t make eye contact. Couldn’t make eye contact. “To flings.” She raised her glass and waited expectantly for him to return the toast.
“To us,” he said instead.
She drained her drink in three swallows. There was no us.
“Whoa, slow down,” he murmured.
But Julie didn’t want nice Mitchell. Didn’t want gentlemanly Mitchell. She had only a limited amount of time left with this complicated man, and she was going to enjoy it.
“Another,” she said.
“Julie—”
She silenced him with a kiss that was hot and a little rough. Her teeth scraped at his bottom lip, wanting to hurt him. He set his glass aside and slid an arm around her back as the other tangled in her hair. Mitchell angled his head and deepened the kiss. His tongue parried with hers, his teeth doing some biting of their own. Julie relished the taste of anger on his mouth.
The kiss wasn’t sweet. It wasn’t kind. It certainly wasn’t loving.
“Jules?”
She groaned.
“Jules!”
It took her several minutes for the voice to permeate the sexual fog. Someone was calling her name. Not Mitchell.
She pulled back from Mitchell’s kiss, breathing hard. She put a hand to her lips, knowing they were swollen and wet.
“Hey, I thought it was you.”
She glanced up and saw a handsome, familiar face. “Cam!”
The newcomer gave a wide smile and sat down uninvited. Julie peeked at Mitchell, who looked somewhere between annoyed and aroused.
Good.
“Cam, this is Mitchell Forbes. He’s um … we were …”
Cam grinned. “Yeah, I can see what you were. I think the temperature’s about ten degrees hotter around your table.”
The two men shook hands, and if Cam noticed that Mitchell was trying to burn him alive with his glare, he didn’t show it.
“Hey, Jules, Katie Ann is having a party at Blink next weekend. You should come.”
Julie tilted her head. “Do I know Katie Ann?”